Bangalore, June 8: Services boxers made a triumphant return to the National Games, bagging six of the dozen gold medals that were up for grabs in the ring here on Sunday. Barring their light middle boxer Jeevan Fernandez, all others who figured in the finals, stepped out of the ring with gold medals around their necks.

The most impressive among the Services winners was of course the one and only Dingko Singh. The National fly weight champion scored the most one-sided victory (40-10 points) against Karnataka's D Suresh.

If Dingko's was a lop-sided win, then his teammate Ramanand snatched the bantam gold with the narrowest of margins (one point) against Karnataka's B Siddi.

Punjab had the distinction of finishing a distant second with two golds earned through B Singh (light fly) and Harpal Singh (super heavy), while Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh clinched one gold each.Apart from Dingko Singh, others who made a qualitative contribution to the boxing event were Jollyson of Bihar (light welter), Saad Farooq of AP (welter), Lalit Prasad of Delhi (light middle) and Harpal Singh of Punjab (super heavy).

Jollyson, who would qualify to fight in a heavier category for his sheer power, chased a gutsy Punjabi P Kumar all round the ring till he knocked out his opponent in the fourth round.

Lalit Prasad, who was the only one to snatch a gold from the grip of a Services' boxer, Jeevan Fernandez, and Punjab's Harpal Singh gave an insight into their stupendous power while outclassing their opponents.

But the talk of the day was can the referee declare a boxer knocked-out for a body blow before clarifying from the judges whether it was a legal blow or not ? This was hotly debated by the ringside officials after the referee officiating the middle weight final between SK Mishra (MP) and Jitender Kumar (Haryana) counted the former out in the third round although he was not in an ideal position to see whether Jitender Kumar's body punch was below the belt or otherwise.

But he was quick to realise his mistake and enquired with Judge 2 if the blow was legal. But the damage was already done.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.